U.S. and Chinese Healthcare Leaders Discuss Megatrends in Healthcare

Boston, Sept. 16, 2017 - The 7th U.S.-China Health Summit (the Summit) Boston Section gathered U.S. and Chinese healthcare leaders to discuss advancement, challenges and opportunities in healthcare. The event was held on September 15, at Joseph B. Martin Conference Center at Harvard Medical School, where senior managers of healthcare companies, renowned scholars, and hospital executives from both U.S. and China were in attendance.

The year 2017 is unique for both the U.S. and China, marking both the beginning of President Trump’s Administration and the implementation of the “Healthy China 2030” Plan. Themed “Megatrends in Health and Healthcare,” the 7th Summit was aimed at promoting the communication among the two countries’ healthcare leaders, the same goal it has worked to achieve over in the past six years.

“The U.S.-China Health Summit is an important link between the U.S. and China in healthcare,” said Dr. William Haseltine, Chairman of the Summit in his welcoming remarks.

Dr. William Haseltine is giving welcoming remarks

“The U.S.-China Health Summit is an important link between the U.S. and China in healthcare,” said Dr. William Haseltine, Chairman of the Summit in his welcoming remarks.

This year’s Summit explored healthcare from a variety of perspectives. The morning sessions discussed the changing world and emerging health challenges, such as "global megatrends and Healthy China 2030" by Yuanli Liu, Dean of Peking Union Medical College (PUMC) School of Public Health, “health implications of demographic change” by Dr. Haseltine, “mental health in China in the context of global health” by Dr. Arthur Kleinman from Harvard Medical School, and “China’s comparative advantage and weakness in medical research and translation” by Dr. Shaoping Deng, President of Sichuan Provincial People’s Hospital. Today’s fast-changing global environment brings the healthcare industry into contact with problems different from those it faced in the past. For example, Dr. Haseltine said in his speech that with today’s demographic change, our cities are not prepared to take care of so many elderly people.

But with the fast development of science and technology, the healthcare industry is also now embracing great opportunities. The afternoon sessions focused on innovation in medical science and healthcare service. For instance, Dr. Steve Chen, founder and CEO of Third-Brain Research Institute, talked about using the supercomputer grid for healthcare cloud storage and medical therapies; additionally, Dr. Kyu Rhee, Vice President and CHO of IBM Watson Health, addressed how big data, AI and machine learning play important role in healthcare.

Besides delivering speeches, the speakers also answered attendees’ questions. Many attendees asked about the Chinese healthcare system, which is different from the system in the U.S.

Attendees are waiting to ask questions

Many attendees thought highly of this year’s Summit. “This is one of the best conferences of its kind I have ever attended,” said Maynard Clark, staff member at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. James Yang, President and CEO of Abpro China Division, said it was inspiring to learn how science and technology are bringing great changes to healthcare.

The annual Summit has been held alternately in the U.S. and China. This year, PUMC, China’s leading institution of medical sciences, is celebrating its centennial on September 22 in Beijing. Therefore, the 7th Summit consists of a Boston Section and a Beijing Section. The Beijing Section will be held later on September 23 and 24. In his closing remarks, Dr. Yuanli Liu, Dean of PUMC and co-founder of the Summit, announced that the 8th Summit will be held in Sichuan Province, China next year.

For more information, visit www.uschinahealthsummit.org or send emails to info@uschinahealthsummit.org.

ABOUT U.S.-CHINA HEALTH SUMMIT

The U.S.-China Health Summit has been dedicated to advancing global health by promoting exchange of knowledge, ideas and experiences among healthcare leaders from China, the U.S. and other countries. Each year, the Summit gathers together hundreds and thousands of healthcare leaders from academia, industry, governmental and non-governmental organizations to discuss important challenges and opportunities facing health sector reforms and development.

Mark Elliott, Vice Provost of Harvard University International Affair, is giving his opening remark

Hannah Burris, a Senior Representative of HHS, is reading the letter from Garrett Grigsby, Director of Office of Global Affairs (OGA)

Some of this year's speakers and their inspiring thoughts:

Yuanli Liu, Dean of PUMC School of Public Health and co-founder of U.S.-China Health Summit, Keynote Speech: "Global Megatrends and Healthy China 2030"

Arthur Kleinman, Professor of Harvard Medical School Department of Global Health and Social Medicine, Keynote Speech: "Mental Health in China in the Context of Global Health"

William Haseltine, Founding President of Access Health International, Keynote Speech; "Health Implications of Demographic Change"

Brent James, Chief Quality Officer and Executive Director of Intermountain Healthcare. “A System of Care: Lower Costs through Higher Quality”

Ezra Vogel, Professor of Harvard University, Luncheon Keynote: “From Deng Xiaoping to Xi Jinping: The New Era of China”

Donald Ingber, Founding Director of Harvard Wyss Institute. Keynote Speech: “Wyss-Institute: A New Model for Crossing the Academic-Industrial Interface”

Kyu Rhee, Vice President and Chief Health Officer of IBM Watson Health. "Future of Health Is Cognitive”

John Spengler, Professor of Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. “Cities, Climate Change & Health: A Future Not Informed by the Past”

Steve CHEN, Founder and CEO of Third-Brain Research Institute. “Supercomputers Grid for Healthcare Cloud and Brain/Cancer Research, Genetics Engineering, Precision Medicine and Cancer Immunology Therapy”